In open field King Solomon
Beneath the sky sets up his throne;
He sees a sower walking, sowing,
On every side the seed-corn throwing.
"What dost thou there?" exclaimed the King.
"The ground can here no harvest bring;
Break off from such unwise beginning,
Thou'lt get no crop that's worth the winning."
The sower hears; his arm he sinks.
And, doubtful he stands still and thinks;
Then goes he forward, strong and steady,
For the wise King this answer ready:
"I've nothing else but this one field;
I've watched it, labored it, and tilled;
What further use of pausing, guessing?--
The corn from me, from God the blessing."
_Translated by_ N. L. FROTHINGHAM.
The next thought is from the _Green Book_ of Mrs. Maria Hare:
"The praises of others may be of use in teaching us not what we
are, but what we ought to be."
And now for the last hint for which I can spare space. It is from John
Ruskin, and is intended as a reproof for an affectation of modesty.
Modesty is always beautiful, but affectation, like other forms of
insincerity, is the sign of a defect in character:
"If young ladies really do not want to be seen, they should take
care not to let their eyes flash when they dislike what people say;
and more than that, it is all nonsense, from beginning to end,
about not wanting to be seen. I don't know any more tiresome flower
in the borders than your especially 'modest' snow-drop, which one
always has to stoop down and take all sorts of tiresome trouble
with, and nearly break its poor little head off, before you can see
it; and then, half of it is not worth seeing. Girls should be like
daisies, nice and white, with an edge of red if you look close;
making the ground bright wherever they are; knowing simply and
quietly that they do it, and are meant to do it, and that it would
be very wrong if they didn't do it. Not want to be seen, indeed!"
* * * * *
MAY.--Caoutchouc is obtained from plants which afford a milky juice,
white as it flows from the plant, but darkening with exposure to the
weather. It is commonly called India rubber, and is so useful and
convenient an article that civilized people could hardly get along
comfortably without it. It forms an important article of commerce.
Mexico, Central and South America, and the East Indies are the principal
places from which India rubber comes. The East India rubber is the juice
of a species of fig-tree. The South American product is taken from the
syringe-tree, which is sometimes as high as an eight-story house. To
erase pencil marks is one of the uses of India rubber which will occur
to you first, and then you will think of water-proof cloaks and shoes,
without which we could not go out comfortably in stormy weather. But
these only begin to be the list of articles which this obliging gum aids
in constructing. Tubes, fire hose, elastic bands, mats, belts for
machinery, door springs, etc., are made of it. Combined with sulphur, it
forms combs, canes, buttons, picture-frames, brush backs, and surgical
instruments, and combined with sulphur and coal tar, and polished like
jet, it is used to make beautiful ornamental jewelry.
* * * * *
LOIS T.--Yes, when I was a little girl I liked to go to parties; but our
parties, dear, always began about three o'clock in the afternoon, and
were over at eight, when we were sent for by our mothers, and went home
to sleep well and have happy dreams. Such a thing as an evening party,
with full dress, was considered too great a dissipation for little folks
when I was young.
* * * * *
The boy members of the C. Y. P. R. U. will find in this issue an
inspiring sketch, entitled "The Boyhood of Daniel Webster," by Mr.
George Cary Eggleston, showing what an "idle boy" could do in the way of
astonishing his teacher by his industry; and a pleasant article by
Sherwood Ryse, entitled "On Skates," which gives both information and
practical suggestions regarding one of our pleasantest winter pastimes.
The girl members can not fail to be interested in "The Life of a Little
Girl in 1782," by Mrs. Margaret E. Sangster, while they will heartily
congratulate themselves on the changes in the way of training children
that a century has brought about.
* * * * *